Similarities and differences between state and federal toxic air pollutant programs

Conference · Tue Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1996

OSTI ID:435446

Hawkins, S C ^[1]

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1. South Carolina Dept. of Health and Environmental Control, Columbia, SC (United States). Bureau of Air Quality

From 1970 to 1989, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promulgated seven pollutant specific, health-based National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP). These standards required a significant amount of time and resources to develop, because pollutant specific health risk data had to be collected, researched, reviewed and formulated into acceptable emission limitations. As a result, few standards were finalized and many known hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) were left unregulated. In fact, a 1989 EPA study estimated that major industrial sources released 2.7 billion pounds of air toxic pollutants in 1987 with actual emissions from all sources as high as 13.5 billion pounds per year. These HAP emissions are believed to have contributed to approximately 2,000 cancer deaths, annually. Therefore, to protect public health and the environment, many states decided to establish their own programs for the control of HAPs. These programs varied greatly in terms of the number of pollutants regulated, the basis for establishing pollutant emission limits, and the method for determining compliance with the established standards. The 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act (CAA) established significant new air quality programs for the control of hazardous air pollutants. These programs mark a fundamental change in philosophy with regards to the regulation of HAPs. This paper will discuss the similarities and differences between the federal air toxic program continued in Section 112 of the CAA and the toxic programs of two stages, New Jersey and New York.

• OSTI ID: 435446
• Report Number(s): CONF-9606300--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR POLLUTION ABATEMENT
CLEAN AIR ACTS
COMPLIANCE
NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
STATE GOVERNMENT
TOXIC MATERIALS